As CNET reports, Ford has filed for a new patent to aid the next wave of motor vehicles. Under Ford’s plans, drones will be used as “surrogate senors” for your car, allowing drivers additional safety options in the event of a sensor failure. “The patent filing shows a drone landing on a car with malfunctioning sensors and then using its own to guide it to a repair facility,” reads a quote from CNET‘s original write-up. As high-tech sensors become more and more necessary and popular with future car models, innovations like this could provide some much needed backup. Via Darrell Etherington:

According to Ford’s patent filing, your vehicle would register a fault in one of its sensors and using a vehicle-to-vehicle network, it communicates with one of these drones, which then finds its way to your vehicle. Once there, it lands on and acts as a replacement sensor while it directs your vehicle to a nearby repair center where the issue could be fixed permanently.

While Ford’s new creation is still in the “patent application” stages, the American automaker is definitely onto something with this latest move.